You know crossovers, where the characters from one franchise mix with another?
Alien VS Predator, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Kingdom Hearts, The whole DC Universe etc etc?

Well what if that happens with religion...

Make yourself a cup of tea, let’s talk about syncretism!
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Syncretism is the process of combining different beliefs and blending, merging or assimilating different religious characters together.

Like Batman Vs Superman, but… with Jesus and Odin… for example!
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It can happen for many reasons.

1. A big civilisation like Rome might want to absorb other culture's into its empire. It found allowing them to keep their old gods and simply... tweak them a bit, was easier than trying to get them to convert!
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2. Cultures naturally meet and borrow ideas each other. So a god from one country might end up being shared across trading routes and through diplomacy, and become mixed in with a different pantheon. 4/

3. Finally, just like with new age religion today, beliefs, cults and so called 'mystery religions' can suddenly pop-up in a society. This can take a god from a seperate place, time, or culture and suddenly reawaken an entire new religion around them. 5/

Here are some examples:
Jesus (Christianity) and Odin (Norse) appearing side by side, or as one entity 6/

Hercules (Ancient Greek) and Buddha (Buddhism).

(The Herculean figure is Vajrapani but is syncretic with Hercules)
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Hermanubus was a fusion of Hermes (Ancient Greek) and Anubis (Ancient Egyptian)
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Benzaiten is the Japanese Buddhist version of the Hindu goddess Saraswati.
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Mars Teutates, was a fusion between the Roman war god and the Celtic god Toutatis. 10/

Aphrodite Astarte, she fused Aphrodite (Ancient Greek) with Ishtar (Syrian). 11/

Melqart a Phoenician god, was the syncretic version of the Ancient Greek character of Hercules. 12/

Mithras, a syncretic Roman version of the Zoroastrian god Mithra was widely worshipped as part of a 'cult'. /13

So like... you go get your shiny Pokemon, THIS is my obsession!